In which Kyioko Amaku and Tsukishima kei come to the annoying realization that they might be more similar than they'd like to believe.
Slight enemies to friends to lovers
This is a SLOWBURN and will take place from s1-s4
A lot of the events don't go...
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There was a shift in the air when Amaku came back to lessons. Hinata and Kageyama insisted on walking her back, loudly telling her they'd see her later before racing back to their classroom. Amaku didn't miss Tsukishima's glare as she walked into the room.
She took her usual seat next to Yamaguchi, but the air was tense. Lessons went on the same way, the freckled boy feeling like he was in a war zone. At the last bell, the girl walked out without saying anything.
She wasn't as mad, but she needed a few minutes without Tsukishima's irritating voice. She saw him almost all day whenever there was school, and sometimes she couldn't take it.
Amaku found Hitoka hovering outside the gym doors, almost smiling at her antics. "You came back."
"Yes," She nodded, her star hairpin bouncing. "Hinata and Kageyama were so nice to me, and when they were talking about volleyball it-" She cut herself off.
"It what?"
"It reminded me of you, a little." Hitoka stuttered. "I'm sorry!"
"You know what I told you about apologizing." Amaku said. "C'mon, I'm already late."
"Yachi, Amaku!" Hinata yelled when he saw them walk in, sprinting up to them. Hitoka flinched, jumping behind the girl next to her. "We had a quiz in English today, and there were questions that you guys taught me! I got almost a whole third of them right!"
While a 30 on a 100 point scale might not be impressive for anyone else, it was for Hinata, whose test average was about a 9.
Hitoka jumped with him in excitement while Amaku managed a small smile, feeling Tsukishima's eyes on her from across the gym.
A few minutes later, the boys started stretching. Amaku led her friend over to her cousin. "I'm going to put you with Shiminzu for today so you can get a better idea of what she does."
Hitoka flushed at this, the idea of spending all afternoon with a girl as pretty as Kiyoko making her anxious. Amaku patted her on the back, smiling at her cousin before heading over to Coach Ukai to discus plans for practice.
"Is she okay?" Coach asked the girl, looking at Hitoka who was looking around the room in fear.
"She's a little anxious, but she's a sweetheart." Amaku said. "Just give her time, she's exactly what this team needs."
She introduced her friend to the coach, trying to ease her nerves. After the boys finished stretching, Amaku started drill work with them, spiking balls down to work on part of the teams receives, the other side for blocker work. The practice was going fast, ending the night with a small practice match.
Hitoka watched as the boys played, but mostly found herself looking at her best friend. She had been a main supporter in Amaku's short-lived volleyball career, but watching her coach and critique was something else. Hitoka thought she looked happier.
A stray ball from one of Tsukishima's spikes went out of bounds, almost nailing Hitoka in the face if it wasn't for Amaku dashing over, catching it before it could hit her.
"Watch it, idiots!" She scolded before turning to her friend. "You have to be careful, a hit in the head will get you a concussion easily."
"Right! Sorry!" Hitoka squealed.
"Don't apologize, now you know." The girl replied, ignoring the stabbing pain in her knee. Moving so quickly was something she had been avoiding since the injury, and now she knew why.
"Are you alright?" Shiminzu approached the two.
"Yes, it's just I've never watched a game this closely before." Hitoka explained. "It's so powerful."
"Well, when it comes to offense, I think we're probably the best team around." Shiminzu smiled softly, dodging a stray ball gracefully.
"Hinata! Get in front of the damn ball when you receive it!" Amaku scolded.
She excused herself from the two, letting them talk. Amaku grabbed her water bottle next to Coach Ukai, unwrapping her knee as he called for a time out. The flesh around her knee was bruised and raw looking. Before any of the boys came to a huddle, she quickly disappeared outside, mumbling curses as she did.
Even from outside, she could hear Takeda announcing they had a practice match tomorrow against Obi Nishi, a school Amaku didn't recognize. Now alone, she fully unwrapped her knee to examine it.
It was worse than she thought. Even a light touch made her his with pain. She could walk, but putting weight on it hurt bad. She was so lost in thought she didn't hear the door slide open, only looking up when a pair of sneakers came into her line of sight.
Tsukishima was standing in front of her, holding a blue ice pack in his hands. He tapped his fingers on his leg nervously, as if waiting for the girl to speak.
Amaku didn't, but she took the ice pack and brought it to her knee as gently as she could, missing the look of concern the boy in front of her was giving her.
"How'd you know?" She asked after a few seconds of silence.
"I carried you to your house a few weeks ago, any kind of running would irritate it." Tsukishima said. "Besides, you aren't exactly invisible."
"You know, you're actually really sweet when you're not insulting me." Amaku admitted.
Tsukishima didn't think anyone had ever called him that before. "What about when I insult other people?"
"That's just funny." She shrugged. "But lay off the two weirdos, it wouldn't kill you to have more than two friends."
"What, you think we're friends?" Tsukishima smirked, extending his hand to help her up.
"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it." Amaku accepted it, trying her best to keep her right leg straight. Tsukishima picked up her bag before she could.
"Good, that would've been an annoying conversation." His hand felt uncomfortably cold without hers.
